Experience learning English at the University.

I have always been interested in this language, of course I would like to learn other ones, but English have always been the most important for me because nowadays is the world’s language and you can communicate with almost anyone using it, no matter what their nationality is. It was the only foreign language taught in my school, and it really is an easy language for me to understand but not so much to talk and write. I think that’s because I used to share my bedroom with my sister when I was a little girl, whose 5 years older than me. So when I was like 7 and she was 12, we used to dislike each others favourite’s TV shows. My favourite ones were the cartoons in Nickelodeon and her favourite ones where the series in Warner Channel and Sony and of course, we always ended up watching her shows. That’s how I started to get used to the English language and also started to relate sounds to their meaning in Spanish. I think that’s the reason why I don’t have much problems understanding it… almost everything I see on TV or listen on the radio are in English. But speaking and writing, that’s what I’ve learnt here. English this semester has been very different from the classes in my school, I relate a lot more with the classes because we talk about things that are going to be useful for my studies and also because we really try to communicate ourselves and understand what the other ones have to say, no matter what we’re talking about. I have lost the fear of talking and making mistakes. Also we have been doing these blogs that has helped me with my writing and expressing my thoughts. These English classes have been really useful, now I’m more secure whenever I talk or write. And now, I think it's a lot more interesting and funny to learn.

Eat, Pray, Love

Last weekend I saw the movie “Eat, pray, love”. It’s about a women who’s a successful writer and is not happy with her life and her marriage so she decides that’s it’s time to make a change in her life. The whole story starts when she takes a trip to Bali, India to write an article for her job.  There she meets a man who tells her that one day she’s going to come back to India and study with him and also that she’s going to have to marriages and that one of them it’s not going to last a long time. When she comes back home, she starts to question herself if she is happy with her life and marriage. That’s how she decides to end her marriage and take a trip out of the country to find herself.

To be honest, I didn’t like the movie’s central theme very much, but what I really loved about it was the places of the world that it showed.  She traveled to Rome and India, and both places seemed like paradise to me. I have been a little stressed with the university, so seeing these kinds of movies makes me desire to be in ANY place of the world but Santiago. But now, there’s no other place in the world I would rather be that India. Maybe the movie showed only the pretty places in there, but I don’t want to go there only because of the beauty of it but also because I want to know a different culture, different beliefs and I want to do things that I wouldn’t do normally in here.  If I think it again, maybe the thing that made me like the movie was this whole thing about doing different stuff and learning new things. I’m not sure if want to make a spiritual journey, but I do want to visit new places in Chile and learn how to surf. I think that I really need the summer vacations! I sure I’m not the only one dreaming about it.  

Dealing with stress

I have to admit that sometimes, mostly during finals or mid-term exams, I feel that the pressure it’s so high and unbearable that I feel really overwhelmed. When I’m stressed I feel that I can’t enjoy anything at all knowing that I have to study a lot and that I don’t have enough time to do it. Because of that feeling I don’t let myself waste time doing the things that I usually do and like to do that helps me to relax, so when I’m stressed I do nothing but homework and study. I know… I’m very boring and lame, you don’t have to tell me. And the worst part is that whenever I feel stressed, I get cranky and sensitive. It’s like having PMS for me, so imagine that.

Well, it’s in time like this that I try to do anything to deal with the stress. How do I do it?

The first thing that I try to do is listen music. I love listening music and singing. It’s actually one of my favorite things, and it’s also very effective to relieve stress. I don’t know why, maybe it liberates bad energy, but it works like a charm for me.

The second thing I try to do is get myself around positive people, the ones that can make me laugh and have a good time. I avoid negative people and comments that could make me angry. I believe that getting into a fight when you’re stressed it only makes things worst. Another things I do it’s be organized and manage my time better so I can do some exercise and watch comedy TV series.

Well, I hope my tips help you whenever you feel stressed!

“But I read somewhere that we only use the 10% of our brain anyway"

Do we really use the 10% of our brain? Does this mean that the other cells that form the brain are useless? First we need to know how we got this idea. We probably heard it because of an experiment done by Karl Lashley. He explored the brain using electroshock, and noticed that many areas of the brain did not react to the shock, so he concluded that these areas had no function at all.

Today is well known that the brain has specific functional primary areas like the visual, somatic sensitive and auditory ones. And some regions are linked to attention and language. Physiologists usually describe and explain separately these areas, giving the impression that the brain works area by area. Well, that’s false. Neuroscience now shows that we use 100% of our brain.

Not all the people know that we have secondary areas surrounding the primary ones that receive a part of their information. For example, when we see an object, the image perceived by the eyes is sent to primary visual area and then to the secondary one. But not only the visual area gets active, it also does the region linked to the memory and language to recognize the object and name it.

I used to believe the myth but after reading this I don’t. It’s shocking to know how complex the brain is and that all of the information we get from the environment is complex too and we need to associate sound with images and smells to understand what’s happening outside. And that implies the use of many areas of our brain, another more than the others but still. It's amezing how the brain can get all the information and makes us understand the things that happens outside! Am I the only one thinking that the brain it’s perfectly done?

A healthy life-style, is it possible? How?

Well, in my opinion a healthy life-style it’s one hundred percent possible, and I recommend it. For all the people that don’t do anything at all, you don’t know what you’re missing! I know that it’s difficult to take the time to go swimming, or to play tennis especially after work or college. I come back home every day at six o’clock and I never have the energy to go out to swim and I’m , but I go anyway, even if I don’t want to because I know that having a healthy life style is good for me. Life shouldn’t be all about work and studies, all that stuff leads to stress and that’s not good at all.

I read an article like three years ago that said that in Chile street joggers were increasing every year, and I can totally see it now. Every night when I go back home from the swimming pool I see people of all ages running in the streets. I would probably do it myself, but I come back home too tired. But anyway, I think it’s amazing. Running in the streets it’s a good option for all the people that don’t have the money to pay for a gym, or a sport club, and don’t have the time either. To go out and run is simple, cheap, it doesn’t take a lot of time and it’s a small change for the people that don’t do any kind of sports.

Another part of the healthy life style is eating a healthy diet. We have to eat more fruits, vegetables, change our salad dressing and not junky food. So doing sports and having a good diet are the things we got to do to have a healthy life style.

A healthy life-style is not only about getting in shape and weight loss, it’s about having a healthy heart that can assure you a long and healthy life ahead, and more important it’s about feeling good with yourself. Not all people know that making exercise raise the endorphins, and endorphins makes you happy. And if you’re happy, the people around will feel that good energy.

My trip to Argentina

Hi everyone! Today I'm going to talk about my first trip abroad.
My first trip abroad was about 9 years ago, when I was 12 years old. I went to Mendoza, Argentina for a swimming competition with all my friends from the swimming club and some coaches. That was my first trip outside the country by myself, and I remember being a little scared of going! The trip lasted three days, and we were supposed to stay with Argentinian families, but I was not a big fan of staying with strange people and all alone. First I didn't want to go, but all my friends were going and my sister who also went to a trip like that when she was my age, told me that I was going to have a great time, and if I didn't go I was going to regret it, so she convinced me and I went. And now I must say that she was right. That trip was my first opportunity to experience a new culture, and I had a lot of fun! We had to be in the pool only the time we were competing so we really had a lot of free time to do whatever we wanted. And I was lucky, because the family that hosted me was great, they made me feel really good at their home, and they took me everywhere in Mendoza (parks, malls, etc).
Even though I loved the city, and all of the people that I met, I have to say that people there drove like road signals were non-existent! So getting into a car in Mendonza was really a near death experience.
I haven’t return since then to Argentina but I would love to! And I really recommend it, so if you ever go let me know if you like it too.

My favourite band

If I had to pick a music band right know and name it my favourite one, I would definitively pick Soda Stereo, an Argentine band of mostly the eighties and also the nineties. When I was around six years old, my sister and I used to go every weekend to my aunt's house to spend our afternoons seing movies like Mary Poppins (which my aunt never got tired of seing it), playing card games and listening Soda Stereo. I remember this particular afternoon that we spent it listening to all soda stereo's songs because my aunt, who was a big fan of the band at the time, just had bought for herself tickets to see the band live, so she was very excited. That's the first remember I have of ever listening to them. As I grew up, I started listening pop bands like Britney Spears or The Hansons, and so I forgot about Soda. Then, when I was about fifteen years old, a very close friend started to listen their music, so because of that I started to remember the songs and from then on I never stopped listening and enjoying their music.
I think I like the band so much because it's music remembers me a lot of good moments in my life. Soda just never gets old, they splitted on 1997 and I can still hear some of their songs on the radio, and that's because they were a great band, it's a fact! They had a huge impact on Chile, and others countries of Latino America, and you can prove that because if you ask anyone about them they will tell you that they know at least one of their songs.
Well, that's all for today, hope you read me!